Ornamental Grasses

Choosing Ornamental Grasses

When you are choosing the species of grass that you want in your garden, you should decide what growth habit will go best in your plan.  Grasses are either clump forming or rhizome forming.  Check which type of grass you are planting so that you can predict what the grass will look like when it is mature. Clump forming grasses will grow in a neat mound and will stay in one place, spreading only by reseeding itself.  Alternatively, rhizome-forming grass, also called running grass, has a tendency to spread rapidly around the garden. This may be an ideal growth habit for a naturalized area, but may be too aggressive for a formal garden. In addition, an important factor in choosing an ornamental grass is the way the grass responds to temperature.  In The Learning Garden, most of the grasses planted are warm season grasses.  Warm season grasses may take a long time to start growing in the spring, but they offer superior drought resistance and can withstand harsh sun and high temperatures. Cool season grasses grow mostly in the cooler months and go dormant in the heat of the summer.  They need to be divided more frequently than warm season grasses.

For more information, please see this Penn State Montgomery County Extension page

Penn State Horticulture Department

For more information on this subject, Please visit the College of Agricultural Sciences Publications Web site.

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